The camera shook steadily in Jay's hand. The cool air from the building wrapped around his body, pulling him in. The dim light shone behind him, casting a shadow past his frame and into the dark room of 79 South Creek Road.
The thought of Tim saying "I'd rather go down fighting" crossed his mind, and he shuddered. He refused to think about Tim losing this fight, even if he had just left Jay by himself, without a camera for some time. Jay hated being on his own. Tim was the only one left. He had one last chance to save him.
Jay progressed further through the torn building. Its structure seemed much more stable than the abandoned hospital. A dark hallway extended before him.
Is it worth going? …Of course it is.
Jay began down the hallway in a cautious manner, clicking on the flashlight. He passed multiple locked, windowless doors when suddenly a grunt came from the end of the hall. No, not directly in front of him though; to the right, in one of the rooms. The grunts became clearer, as he realized they were coughs.
The camera shook harder as Jay rushed toward the door at the end of the hallway. The dry coughs were so familiar. It had to be Tim. Jay yanked and rattled the door knob, finding that it, of course, had been locked as well.
"Tim!" Jay tried to yell between Tim's hard coughing. "Tim! Tim…please…" The fit seemed to stop. Jay pounded on the door. He heard a few more light coughs and then silence. He stepped back momentarily, studying the door; determining whether it could be smashed past. He concluded it could.
Jay took a few steps back, and without protecting the camera, took a running start to the door, busting the lock open.
The flashlight and camera fell out of his hand, and slightly focused on the face of the unconscious Jay and the shivering Tim just beside him.
Terror.
It was dark.
No light.
His body convulsed.
We're coming.
He gasped for breath. He felt like he was drowning. The pills. They were gone.
Closer.
He scrambled through his pockets. His body shivered and convulsed and ached. A building pressure in the back of his skull pulled down on his head. He remained horizontally spread across the floor as it began to take over.
We're almost here.
Knocking. But there were no doors, let alone walls. How…?
We're here–.
"Tim!" The voice seemed to echo through the empty space of…wherever the hell he was. "Tim!" The voice was sharper. "TIM!"
Jay.
Tim felt his limp body being shaken violently. Jay's pale hands grasped Tim's shoulders with a fierce grip. Tim's eyes rolled forward, his gaze settling on the worried expression of his friend sitting before him – that is, if he could call Jay his friend.
"Tim? Tim? Please say something."
"How did you–?"
Jay breathed a sigh of a relief and continued, "We need to go." Jay tugged Tim's bicep, pulling him from the cold, dusty floor. Dropping the flashlight and pushing Tim toward the door, he paused and clutched the side of his head with his free hand. He muttered and collapsed onto his knees.
Tim turned to the sound of the hard thump the man had made. Dust stirred under Jay's knees as the man's head began to flood with immense pain. Sharp pains, fiery pains, aching pains, everything. All at once. Tim rushed to him and helped him stand, only to be shaken off by Jay.
"Go," Jay spoke in a hoarse voice.
"I'm not leaving you."
"Tim, you need to go, now."
"I'm not leaving, Jay."
"Stop arguing back! Go! Before it gets here!"
"No, I can hold it off this time, like I did last time." His voice seemed frantic.
"Not this time, Tim… But before I go–."
"C'mon!" Tim grabbed Jay's camera hand.
"Take the camera. You can put whatever's on this tape on the account or not. Just…remember me." Hot tears filled the corner of his eyes and his throat swelled. A broken sob omitted from Tim, who looked his friend in the eyes. For once in the years they had worked together, they finally came to a mutual understanding of where they stood.
Tim stammered with a full throat, "But…I'm going to be alone again… Jay I can't go through this alone anymore…"
"You won't be alone. You'll find – cough – more people now that you're free from this."
"But what if I don't–?"
"You will."
A sudden sharp ring in his ears sent Jay turning around to meet the faceless head of the tall, dark figure. He turns to face Tim again, but speaking in a rushed tone.
"Take the camera," Jay pressed the camera into Tim's abdomen. Tim clutched onto it without hesitation.
Tim turns to the doorway, now with hot tears running down his cheeks. He steps past the threshold, looking back at Jay just as he's turning to the Operator.
"Tim…I'm not giving up…I'm letting go."
Tim speaks through a choked throat, "I know," and with a hard swallow continues, "Goodbye."
"Goodbye…"
Tim lets out a sob and rushes out of the room, camera still recording.
Jay turns to the Operator. He regrets taking the pills, since they'll make him suffer more, but then realizes he should be thankful. Because now he can speak his mind to this thing, before it steals the life away from him.
"I have nothing left. Tim will live a normal life now. One that he's never had because of you."
- And you consent to this. -
"With the last breath I take."
In an instant, Jay felt the life being pulled out of him. He felt his brain being fried by whatever the hell that thing was. He felt his body being pulled down to the cold floor. His body convulsed and shivered more violently than it had before. He let out a shriek of pain as something sparked inside the back of his skull. He cried in a long scream of agony.
For Tim.
- Tell me, child. Was it worth it? -
Jay yelled out in anguish. Tears streamed from his eyes. He had saved Tim. And he finally admitted to himself that it would've been too hard to go on without him.
He gasped a final breath and thought to himself:
It was worth everything…